52 books in 52 weeks

[Anonymous No.12452971]

Are you on pace, Anon?
What books have you read so far in 2019?
Write in this thread about the books you read so far and how you feel about them.

Week 1: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Week 2: Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Week 3: Hangsman by Shirley Jackson

This week I'm finishing up Dracula and am loving it. It would have been nice to go into Dracula blind and experiencing the mystery and suspense as if I knew nothing of vampires and the mythos, but I guess that's what you have to expect from such an influential classic.

Catch 22 was fantastic and blah blah very funny, you heard the rest a thousand times. Glad I read it.

Galapagos was alright. I wasn't a fan of how the plot was ordered, in that I didn't like how the book didn't give many surprises. Looking online I found that is how Vonnegut style of storytelling is, so I don't know if his other books are going to be worth it. Nevertheless, I do want to try out slaughterhouse five or cat's cradle

Having finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle last December, I've wanted to read more of Jackson's works. I picked up one of her short story books and have read The Lottery in almost every English class I've had since middle school (I do not like the Lottery in any way, reading now her other stuff I wonder why she even wrote it). Hangsman was everything I liked about Jackson's writing from the way she describes the self consciousness we feel in the prescience of peers and enemies, the New England 50s speech and the somewhat disturbed but sympathize-able protagonist.

[Anonymous No.12453059]

>>12452971
Week 1: Steps by Jerzy Kosinski / whatever ghost writer he had?
It thought it was fine, it's got really neat structure and I'd be interested in trying my hand at a similar structure of vignettes that are all variations on a common theme in order to convey an idea.
Week 2: The Consmer by M Gira
Glad to have a copy that didn't cost me like $500 to get, if you read too much of it in one sitting it can get a little tiresome and repetitive and you get desensitized to the atrocities pretty quick but the quality of the prose is just so fucking cutting and I enjoy flipping through it semi-frequently.
Week 3: This is Not Fame by Doug Stanhope
Really fucking funny, his drunken rambling standup format translates to page surprisingly well, he's a really funny and engaging author

Currently about 75 pages into All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy because I knocked out like half of his catalog in 2018 and really enjoyed them but strangely never tackled the Border Trilogy, so I'm probably gonna knock out this one and The Crossing next week and see where if I wanna continue from there just because I have both of them but not the third one.

I don't have my books planned out super far in advance but next I'm mostly going to try to work through my pile of shit I picked up at secondhand stores for 80 cents but never got around to reading, including but not limited to Crime and Punishment, Dubliners, Paradise Lost, a bunch of Nabokov's less renowned work, and a smattering of old mass market scifi novellas

[Anonymous No.12453156]

>>12453059
Just looked it up now any Steps looks very interesting. Sometimes I get burnt out reading longer books so collections of short stories help me break up monotony.

I've barely dipped my toes into listening Swans but I understand and appreciate their message. Also if you haven't already, the Story of the Eye might be worth you're time. I haven't read either but they seem similar in their vulgarity.

[Anonymous No.12453362]

Three weeks + three books in. Just finished Proof of Collusion, it was kinda boring overall but had a few satisfying tidbits

[Anonymous No.12453370]

I'm gonna do both Ulysses and Crime & Punishment this year, wish me luck, lads

[Anonymous No.12453397]

>>12452971
i spent way too much time on /lit/ arguing about what is and what isn't post modernism to keep up.

[Anonymous No.12453399]

>>12452971
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Look Back In Anger by John Osborn
Just started
The Tempest by some dude called Shakespeare

[Anonymous No.12453445]

I'm trying for 100, 2 per week, but I'm working 10 hour shifts and all I want to do when I get home is eat cereal and shitpost.
Read so far:
The Innocent Anthropologist
Alive (about the cannibal rugby players)
Cancer Ward (I doubt I'll read a book all year that'll top this)
Letters of Abelard and Heloise

I'm currently working on Simon Leys' collected essays. Good shit so far.
And I'm listening to Sweetie Petie's 12 Rules on audiobook during my commute, dunno whether to count that

[Anonymous No.12453451]

>>12452971
Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The German Ideology. I wish I was memeing. Next up is probably some Jane Austen.

[Anonymous No.12453454]

>>12453399
Shakespeare's an easy way to crank through a book each day. It's the highest attainable literary merit-to-length ratio. I get myself a little tipsy and read as much as I can out loud.

[Anonymous No.12453457]

>>12453399
By the way what the fuck

[Anonymous No.12453487]

>>12453370
Do it in the reverse order so you can enjoy the best novel ever written before you get pulled down into the stewpot of trademark Irish misery.

>>12453451
Decent choice, Austen may be the only way you can redeem your sins for this month

[Anonymous No.12453603]

>>12453454
>It's the highest attainable literary merit-to-length ratio.
Close, but you forgot about my diary desu

[Anonymous No.12453709]

4 books so far, i'm 1 behind schedule for my 100 goal.

[Anonymous No.12455020]

>>12452971
>1 week for a book
i only read 2 this year
"Welcome to Russia" by Dmitri Glukhovski and "white death" by Petri Sarjanen . i also got "Futu.re", "303 my division", "Poles are the best" and shitton of metro universum to read

[Anonymous No.12455070]

>>12452971
I’m gonna read all of Dostoevsky this year, then I’m gonna read everything by Joyce minus the Wake. Repeat reads from years past will be Bovary and Father’s and Sons.

[Anonymous No.12455256]

>>12452971
I would rather read a book a year then 52 books I rush through

[Anonymous No.12455260]

>>12455256
~400 pages a week shouldn't be anywhere near rushing

[Anonymous No.12455262]

>>12455260
tbf im new and read about 30 pages a day. even still one a week seems a bit much

[Anonymous No.12455267]

>>12455262
It's all about consistency really. If you force yourself to read 200 pages every weekend to meet your goal you're not going to have fun, but read for an hour or two every single day and you'll run up some pretty high seeming numbers

[Anonymous No.12455274]

>>12452971
So far two, I'm currently reading The Terror, but it will take a while. It's a big book.

[Anonymous No.12455281]

>>12455267
I guess it matters also what your reading, you could take a short stories like 1984, brave new world and blast through them in no time being quite easy reads. take something more dense then it would be harder obviously.

[Anonymous No.12455319]

>>12452971
Do Plato's dialogues count as books?

[Anonymous No.12455373]

>stuck in The Book of Disquiet for almost 3 weeks
I'm loving it though. Wish I had more time to read.

[Anonymous No.12455412]

>week 1
Finally, Some Good News, by Delicious Tacos - A really fun read.

>week 2
A Sorrow Beyond Dreams, by Peter Handke - Beautifully writen, unbearably sad.

>week 3
The Golden Cockerel, by Juan Rulfo - Is worst, but still way above average.

>week 4
200 pages into Journey To The End Of The Night, by Louis-Ferdinand Céline - I'm having a laugh, and it is such a nicely written book.

[Anonymous No.12455524]

>>12455274
>It's a big book.
For you.

[Anonymous No.12455533]

>>12452971
Only 2
>The last Messiah
>The Moon and the Bonfires

[Anonymous No.12455542]

>>12455524
based and banepilled

[Anonymous No.12455572]

Started late but I’m knocking out two books this week
So far
>The Sailor Who fell from grace with the Sea
>The Sound of Waves

Next
>Confessions of a Mask
>Sun and Steel

February I’m probably going to do all sci-fi or something. Maybe the halo novels idk

[Anonymous No.12455583]

>>12453397
Unironically very pomo of you

[Anonymous No.12455587]

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawwbata
After Dark by Haruki Murakami
Metamorphosis by Kafka
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima

I'm currently reading No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

[Anonymous No.12455613]

I am aiming to read 200 books this year, I'm a little behind due to an operation etc but I'm hoping to claw it back with a few small things. At the moment I'm reading Venus in Furs and then I'll read Ben Johnsons Preface to Shakespeare and then King Lear

[Anonymous No.12455623]

>>12455587
How are the first two novels you posted?

[Anonymous No.12455735]

>>12455623
Snow Country has a very immersive atmosphere of melancholy, but the lengthy descriptions of the sceneries bore me after a while despite them being beautifully written

After Dark was max comfy and there was a constant element of suspense which made it a compelling read, but the ending (or rather the lack of an ending) really took away from the enjoyment. There were a lot of plot threads left untied.

[Anonymous No.12455821]

Sorry I'm not gonna rush trough bunch of books without time to reflect on what I just read just so I can be part of some meme.

[Anonymous No.12455841]

>>12455821
Not every book is a philosophical masterpiece. This goal pretty much just forces you to think of reading a book for your entertainment instead of the internet/tv/etc. pick up a fiction book about wizards and shit instead of shitposting

[Anonymous No.12455845]

>>12452971
thanks for this thread

read:
Dune
Dune Messiah

reading:
Children of Dune

[Anonymous No.12455863]

No country for old men this week. What should I read next?

[Anonymous No.12455880]

>>12455735
Would After Dark be a good book for a girl to read? I want to get my gf into reading and I’ve heard good things about that author

[Anonymous No.12455905]

>>12455845
Wish I added more detail

Dune was really good, probably would recommend it to anyone. A little bit generic heroes journey, but done so well and drawing from such untapped inspiration (Arabic culture and Islam) that I really enjoyed it.

Dune Messiah was good too and I think it was the necessary followup to advance Dune from just being about Paul and being trapped to reminiscing about the first book. That said, it is definitely not as good as the first book. I think one of the main reasons is the lack of a main villain, whereas the first had Baron Harkonen. This is intentional, and I think it's to show a few things - the rising dislike of Paul and the creation of bureaucracy, religion and government, and a lot of it is internal, Paul dealing with prescience and his conscience.

Still good, just not as good as the first.

[Anonymous No.12456003]

>>12455880
The main character is female, but a main part of the story is a prostitute getting beat up. Usually when getting into Murakami, people would start with Kafka On The Shore, but After Dark is pretty short so it's a good book to start with

[Anonymous No.12456012]

>>12452971
You guys will probably laugh but (been reading more than one a week)

>Getting Off by Robert Jensen
>The Sexual Politics of Ecofeminism by Carol Adams
>Only Words by Catharine MacKinnon
>The Sympathetic Undertaker by Biyi Bandele-Thomas
>Howl, Kaddish and other Poems by Allan Ginsberg
>Course in General Linguistics by Ferdinand Saussure
>SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas

I don't know if it counts but I also read an official 200 page report on the Sandy Hook massacre.

[Anonymous No.12456032]

Alamut, now I'm reading cosmocomics by Calvino

[Anonymous No.12456067]

>>12455613
>I'm a little behind due to an operation etc but I'm hoping to claw it back
you had them turn you into a lobster? yikes

[Anonymous No.12456073]

>>12455880
Norwegian Wood would be the one for her

[Anonymous No.12456080]

>>12456012
>>SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas
based as fuck

[Anonymous No.12456083]

>>12452971
I read the
>Iliad (Started last year tho)
Also, 2/3rds into the Odyssey
I think the Iliad is the better epic of both, and I like how there are no simple the ones on the right and the ones on the wrong on the larger picture. The Odyssey is more dynamic tho, has the whole big journey and stuff. But whatever, this is just the opinion of a guy who reads a bit.

[Anonymous No.12456088]

>>12456012
>>The Sexual Politics of Ecofeminism by Carol Adams
I found this read quite enlightening, good choice anon, even though I sense that you probably hated it.

[Anonymous No.12456094]

>>12456012
>>12456088
Is this "The Sexual Politics of Meat"? She doesn't have a book called "The Sexual Politics of Ecofeminism"

[Anonymous No.12456110]

>>12456094
You'd be correct

>>12456088
No, I loved it. I especially liked how she explained the absent referrant and how it manifests in our language regarding meat. Have been a vegetarian for years, especially after I read a whole lot of Peter Singer. Carol got me back on the animal-loving train and is making me considering going full vegan. Been reading up on more animal liberation texts and it's motivating me more. Milking animals is fucked up, man.

[Anonymous No.12456132]

>>12456110
nice

[Anonymous No.12456158]

>>12456110
Me too anon. Transitioning from vegan to vegetarian is way harder than simply desiting from meat.

[Anonymous No.12456462]

>>12456083
I liked the illiad better too.
Read it as a kid.

I think I was a bit fucked up though because I idolized Achilles and hated Trojans. I was fucking strange.

[Anonymous No.12456486]

>>12456158
It's the worst in the US. Every fucking thing has cheese in it, EVERYTHING

[Anonymous No.12456666]

Pensees - Pascal
Gathering Evidence - Bernhard
Complete Poems of Hart Crane

easy peasy

[Anonymous No.12456683]

>Catch-22

It has been described as seeming to have been 'shouted onto paper' and that sums it up. One of the worst books I have ever read.

[Anonymous No.12456889]

>>12452971
I joined the Gravity's Rainbow reading group at the start of last year and then stopped reading around 100-120 pages in.

Then I got Dune in April and haven't finished it yet. I don't think I've read a page of a book this year.

I am in a computer desk environment most of the day and don't afford myself the time to read.

Is this what it's like to be a pleb? Is this the cookie cutter lifestyle? Have I joined the rest of the masses who don't read?

Will I ever find my love of reading again?

[Anonymous No.12456938]

Kafka's Amerika and Sartre' Age of Reason so far. But I'm gonna cheat and read a bunch of plays next

[Anonymous No.12456955]

>>12456889
Stop reading bricks all the time. There are plenty of short Kafka or Vonnegut novellas, plenty of short story anthologies, plenty of nonfiction essay anthologies. Your love of reading has to come from being in the habit of reading, not from unlocking "achievements". Better to walk 30 minutes every day than climb a mountain once a year.

[Anonymous No.12457139]

>>12456955
I didn't consider Dune as a brick and genuinely enjoyed reading it when I set aside the time. Guess I just need to build the habit back up.